Thread: S.D. sees few cases of illegal workers,

By Josh Verges
jverges@argusleader.com

The nationwide clamor for a crackdown on illegal immigration hasn't found its way to South Dakota, where the undocumented population maintains a low profile.

U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley credits the state's employers for vigilance in hiring eligible workers.

In the first six months of this year, Jackley's office charged 20 illegal immigrants for crimes such as illegal re-entry, identity theft and having false documents. He said it's difficult to compare numbers over the years, but those types of cases are down significantly in South Dakota's federal courts.

"I think our employers are genuinely educating themselves (and) trying to follow the immigration laws," Jackley said.

Two raids in the past seven months that removed about 1,300 alleged immigration law violators from Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in six neighboring states didn't touch South Dakota. The highest profile case here involving illegal immigrants began in March when agents arrested seven undocumented workers and two managers at the Inca Mexican Restaurant in Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls immigration lawyer Henry Evans said illegal immigrants are here, but in smaller numbers.

Unlike the Swift plants, Evans said South Dakota's illegal immigrants work for smaller employers in industries such as construction, farming and nursing homes. Those employers might be too busy to verify work eligibility, he said.

"I think there's more of an illegal immigrant population than people appreciate," he said, "but it's not big enough to worry about."

Employment magnet
Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not keep records by city or state, but arrest numbers dropped recently in the five-state region that includes South Dakota, ICE spokesman Tim Counts said.

From 2005 to 2006, ICE arrests for status violations in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska fell 11 percent, and criminal arrests dropped 22 percent.

Counts said ICE has increased its attention on worksite enforcement since the agency replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2002. Businesses, as much as airports and energy plants, are crucial to national security, he said.

"We're getting better at it," Counts said. "It's widely known that employment is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, magnet for illegal immigration."

During the June sentencing hearing for Inca owner Julio Espino, discussion turned to meatpacking workers. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol said that although Swift was not directly punished for hiring ineligible workers, the company was not diligent in making hires. He contrasted that with John Morrell & Co., which he said has hired few known illegal immigrants.

Union representative Dan Jorgenson said the backgrounds of John Morrell's immigrant workers help explain that. Verifying work eligibility for European and African refugees - a sizable number of whom work at the plant - is easier than for Hispanic workers, whose numbers are larger in other states.

"We don't have a major problem with it at Morrell's," Jorgenson said. "It's just once in a great while that they (ICE agents) come down there."

Calls to the company were not returned.

Higher standards
At the construction site of Sanford Children's Hospital on Thursday, Prunty Construction had six men working, two of whom were Mexican immigrants.

Owner Ernie Knoll said job candidates must pass a drug test and a background check and show a driver's license or green card.

"They've gotta be able to pass the same standards as anybody else I hire," he said.

One of the laborers, 45-year-old Luis Gutierrez, went into California seeking a better life in 1980 and found work in a factory. He received permanent resident status in 1986 when Congress reformed immigration laws.

He said he thinks there are a lot of illegal immigrants in the Brookings area, where he lives. His employer said the numbers are probably much bigger in the Sioux City, Iowa, area.

Qadir Aware, executive director of the Multi-Cultural Center, said his agency doesn't ask whether a client is legal or not, but the problem appears relatively small.

"Compared to other states, we even don't have much to talk about. They're talking by the million, we're talking by the hundred, two hundred," he said.

Sioux Falls police spokesman Loren McManus said people who are in the country illegally sometimes are reluctant to notify police when they become victims of crime. The department typically does not report witnesses to ICE, he said, but will do so with criminal suspects.

A Sioux Falls police officer for seven years, Jeff Garden occasionally deals with suspects presenting false identification documents or offering a fake name and birthdate. It's a struggle figuring out their true identities, he said, but the scenario only comes up a few times each month.

"For the size of our city," Garden said, "it's really not even a problem."

Reach Josh Verges at 331-2335.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 40313/1001

S.D. sees few cases of illegal workers

That's probably because the state is still largely rural with one of the lowest population densities in the United States.

Compared to other states, there's probably not a lot of illegals in Alaska and Wyoming either (same reason as S.D.). I think the majority of illegals typically gravitate toward the more populace states where low-wage jobs are more prevalent.

Comment Section Alert!

Originally Posted by MW

S.D. sees few cases of illegal workers

That's probably because the state is still largely rural with one of the lowest population densities in the United States.

Compared to other states, there's probably not a lot of illegals in Alaska and Wyoming either (same reason as S.D.). I think the majority of illegals typically gravitate toward the more populace states where low-wage jobs are more prevalent.

The bigger the lines are for the free stuff may also work out well especially when you've got more that one identification.


P.S.

S.D. sees few cases of illegal workers

We don't have many honest people left in government, nation wide, that see illegal workers!

The blind deaf and dumb... traitors!